Neighbourhood Plan

Welcome to the Formby and Little Altcar Neighbourhood Plan page. Here you will find all the information on how our plan was formed. You will find a copy of the Neighbourhood Plan available to view and download at the end of the page.

In April 2012 local communities were given legal powers under the Localism Act 2011 to develop Neighbourhood Plans. Neighbourhood Planning is the government’s initiative of trying to empower local communities to help make and take forward planning proposals at a local level. The idea being that local people will drive and then help to shape how their local communities grow and develop over the coming years.

Formby Parish Council and Little Altcar Parish Council wanted the people of Formby to have a say in all aspects of the future of the town but it wanted local people to decide what type of housing, allocated by Sefton Council’s Local Plan, was needed in Formby and to ensure that any housing built was in keeping with the character of the area and most importantly did not cause any increase flooding to existing properties.

Formby’s Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) sets out a vision for the area that reflects the thoughts and feelings of local people with a real interest in their community. The Plan sets objectives on key themes such as moving around, housing, employment, green space and community facilities. It builds on current and planned activity and what the Parish Council and its partners will work towards over the coming years.

The plan dates of 2012-2030 correspond with those of the Sefton Local Plan; the Local Plan has a start date of 2012 as this is the date of the latest population projections used in preparing the plan. (The Sefton Local Plan was adopted in April 2017).

The Formby and Little Altcar Neighbourhood Plan became a “made plan” and part of the Sefton Council Development Plan following the referendum held on 10 October 2019.

What is in the Plan?

The Plan is a plan for the town as a whole. It provides a vision for the future of the town and sets out clear planning policies to realise this vision. These policies accord with the higher level planning policy, as required by the Localism Act. It looks at a wide range of issues, including:

• How walking and cycling around the town should be improved
• What open space new housing should contribute to the town
• Encouraging Formby to become a ‘greener’ town
• How creating a development boundary will protect the countryside around the town
• Protecting the character of the low-lying area by having new housing no higher than 2.5 stories
• How new housing should meet the demand for those in later life wanting to downsize and low-cost starter homes
• How new development will impact on the flood risk

The Plan has been developed through extensive consultation with the people of Formby and Little Altcar and others with an interest in the town.

A Consultation Statement provides an overview of the consultation, demonstrating that it fully accords with the requirements of the Localism Act. This consultation has included meeting the requirements of Regulation 14 and Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012.

Formby and Little Altcar NDP has been prepared using the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (February 2019) which states:

• “At the heart of the Framework is a presumption in favour of sustainable development” [para 10]
• “Neighbourhood planning gives communities the power to develop a shared vision for their area. Neighbourhood plans can shape, direct and help to deliver sustainable development, by influencing local planning decisions as part of the statutory development plan. Neighbourhood plans should not promote less development than set out in the strategic policies for the area, or undermine those strategic policies.” [para 29]
• “Communities can use Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders to grant planning permission.” [para 52]
• Once a Neighbourhood Plan has been brought into force, the policies it contains take precedence over existing non-strategic polices that are adopted subsequently.” [para 30]

There is a large amount of background information that has helped in producing the NDP known as the Evidence Base. A summary document (Formby Neighbourhood Development Plan: Evidence Base Summary) is available in the downloads section. This provides an overview of key parts of the Evidence Base.